How do I ship to or from a residence?

When you are shipping to or from a residence you have to keep in mind the differences you face versus a standard dock to dock shipment. Understanding those differences and being prepared will ensure you have a good shipping experience.

Obviously you can rate and ship a residential shipment on ShipTMS.com. But how do you ensure there are no issues? Most people think a truck will arrive and pickup whatever they have even if it is unpackaged. Wrong. Your shipments have to be packaged as well as a business shipment is. Palletized, boxed (or crated) is the way to ensure your shipment will be picked up without issue.

If you are shipping a motorized vehicle or engine part that could have residual fluids such as fuel or oil will need to be drained. We will cover this in more detail on another blog post.

When you are packaging your shipment you need to keep in mind that when it goes across country, it will be transferred from truck to truck at freight terminals. That is the time where damage will most likely occur due to lack of care by the carrier.

How do you combat that?

When palletizing or crating your shipment keep this in mind “if it drops 12 inches or is moved 12 times, will it get damaged?”. If you are not sure, then you need to do a better job. Below are some tips but if you need more help, please give us a call.

When you palletize a shipment you make it easier for a pallet jack (the thing they move your freight around the truck on) and the forklift driver to transfer your shipment to another truck.

Trucks are dirty. You are guaranteed of that fact. when you are palletizing items and they are not boxed, always wrap them in plastic or stretch wrap. This not only protects them from dirt and dust but also give an added level of protection from shifting while in transit

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When packing boxes, always ensure the heavy items are on the bottom (and heaviest boxes on the bottom of the stack). Glassware should be bubble wrapped. Paintings should be edge protected and wrapped in paper. Furniture should be edge protected and wrapped. Moving blankets are perfect but can be expensive. Think about how protected a piece of furniture is when wrapped in one of those padded blankets. Tey to emulate that with foam edges and bubble wrap. Heavy items must be strapped to a pallet or crated. You do not want these to break loose during transport and damage the item or other shipments do you?

Most people assume if it is shipping, it is insured. So not true. Freight carriers will only cover a shipment for 10 cents per pound if there is loss or damage. so if you are shipping a vintage desk you sold on eBay for $5000 and it weighs #300 lbs, you would only be covered for $30.00 We offer shipping insurance for anyone who needs protection. Don’t think you are covered, know you are.

When your shipment is ready to go, we always suggest marking your shipment to inform the carriers driver and forklift operators what level of caution they need. If your shipment is boxed or crated, if you do not want them to top load something on it, make a tent with cardboard on the top and mark the shipment “NO TOP LOAD” or “DO NOT STACK” If your shipment is fragile, write it all over the wrapping to let them know. If you do secure shipping insurance for your shipment, DO NOT mark it on the shipment “INSURED” or anything else to allude that it is insured. This is a license to either steal your shipment or as bad, to damage your shipment since they will not have to pay the damages.
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Using common sense BEFORE you ship is the best piece of advice. You can go to youtube and search for videos on packaging properly, tips and tricks on how to ensure your shipment is packaged properly. If you don’t, you can guarantee that there will be damage. If you do properly package, you eliminate most chances for damage or loss.